Overview

UN Women and UNFPA have established a Joint Programme entitled “Solomon Islands Joint Programme on Eliminating Violence against Women and Girls -Keeping the Promise in the Solomon Islands: From Policy to Action”, using a pass-through funding modality.

The overall objective of the Joint Programme is to enhance the capacity of the Solomon Islands Government and civil society partners to implement EVAWG policies to support a comprehensive, multi-sectoral response strategy, and to eliminate violence against women and girls. Ultimately, the Joint Programme aims to support the Solomon Islands Government to implement a whole-of-government approach to EVAWG and to better connect government and Civil Society Organisation (CSO) programming and service provision to survivors of VAWG.

The Solomon Islands Joint Programme on Eliminating Violence against Women and Girls will be implemented over three years, from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017. The Joint Programme will consist of partnerships with the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs (MWYCFA), Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS), UNICEF, WHO and Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Auckland University of Technology and EVAW Task Force Members including CSOs.

The key beneficiaries of the Joint Programme are:

Women and girls who are survivors of VAWG; and Policy and decision makers, and various levels of management, technical staff, and frontline workers within service delivery ministries, as well as civil society service providers, responsible for providing response services for survivors of VAWG.

Assistance Strategy

The Joint Programme is designed to support the wider Solomon Islands Joint Programme on Eliminating Violence against Women and Girls, which is a strategic collaboration between UN agencies and the government that seeks to ensure coherence across each agency’s mandate and comparative advantage.

The Joint Programme focuses on strengthening service provision in three ways:

Outcome 1: National policy frameworks on EVAWG have been strengthened and implemented to support a comprehensive, multi-sectoral response strategy

Outcome 2: Frontline service providers are able to deliver essential services to survivors of VAWG in a more comprehensive and coordinated manner

The Joint Programme is aligned with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for the Pacific Region (2013-2017), and the UNDAF for the Solomon Islands (2013-2017). It reinforces implementation of international conventions and protocols with specific reference to CEDAW and CRC.

Governance

The Solomon Islands Joint Programme on Eliminating Violence against Women and Girls is implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA using a pass-through funding modality, with support from UNDP, UNICEF and WHO. UN Women is the lead agency, and UNDP is the Administrative Agent for project funds received from the UN Trust Fund to end VAW. Participating UN agencies are responsible for programmatic and financial accountability for their respective components of the Joint Programme.

Joint Programme Steering Committee (JP-SC)

The UN Joint Programme is guided by a Steering Committee (JP-SC) comprised of the relevant government members of the Gender Equality and Women’s Development (GEWD) National Steering Committee plus senior UN staff to ensure high level oversight, coordination, and strategic direction.

Joint Programme Working Group (JP-WG)

A Joint Programme Working Group (JP-WG) comprised of the UN Joint Presence Head of Office, UN agency senior staff, and Suva-based technical advisors will be established. UN Women will act as the secretariat for this working group. The JP-WG will liaise closely with technical staff who serve as focal points to the EVAW Task Force and other Gender Equality and Women's Development (GEWD) policy Task Forces and the National Advisory and Action Committee for Children (NAACC). The JP-WG will also collaborate with the SafeNET coordinator to support a survivor-centred response by frontline responders, as well as with key agencies responsible for implementation of the prevention strategy. The JP-WG will meet quarterly, and capture and track results as they happen- including intermediate outcomes or results that demonstrate use of outputs.

Joint Programme Management Team (JP-MT)

The Joint Programme Management Team (JP-MT) will be led by UN Women and joined by representatives from UNFPA and other UN agencies. The responsibility of the JP-MT is to ensure sound monitoring, reporting and support to all the members of the UN Joint Programme. Each representative will contribute to regular results tracking and reporting for the purposes of the JP. A Joint Programme coordinator will provide guidance, leadership and coaching on EVAW technical matters and overall coordination, and a Monitoring, reporting and Evaluation (MRE) consultant will support monitoring, results tracking, and reporting. The JP-MT will meet regularly and will support the quarterly and bi-annual meetings of the JP-SC and WG.

Participating Organizations are required to submit final year-end expenditures by April 30 in the following year; Interim expenditure figures are submitted on a voluntary basis and therefore current year figures are not final until the year-end expenditures have been submitted.